More than astrophotography, an astronomical exploration.
M33 in high resolution
David Cruz · Astromidnight
In Triangulum, the galaxy M33 spreads its arms face-on to us, about 3 million light-years away. The pink patches are stellar nurseries, and the largest, NGC 604, is almost 1,500 light-years across.
| Catalogue | Messier, 1764 · NGC 598 |
| Type | Spiral galaxy |
| Distance | ≈ 3 million light-years |
| Field | 80.7′ × 54.8′ |
| Real width | ≈ 70,000 × 48,000 light-years |
| Scale | 0.81″ / pixel |
| Orientation | 172° · south up |
| RA (centre) | 01h 33m 54s |
| DEC (centre) | +30° 39′ 06″ |
| Constellation | Triangulum |
| Objects in field | M33 · 6 HII regions · HD 9687 |
Distance to M33 according to NASA (≈ 3 million light-years); the geometric measurement with water masers gives 730 ± 168 kpc, about 2.4 million light-years (Brunthaler et al. 2005). The real width assumes the NASA distance. Distance to HD 9687 from Gaia parallax (SIMBAD). Positions of all objects taken from SIMBAD.
12 h 09 min of light
Each tick is one exposure. 170 in total, with the camera at −10 °C and gain 100. Calibrated with 50 darks, 50 flats and 50 bias. The Moon stayed below 75 % illumination throughout.
Carbon Newton 10' f/4
ZWO ASI2600MC Pro
ZWO AM5
ZWO ASI120MM Mini
TS-Optics Maxfield .95X Coma Corrector · ZWO EAF
Player One Anti-Halo Pro Dual-Band Ha+OIII Filter 2"
Adobe Photoshop · Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight · ZWO ASIAIR
São Pedro da Gafanhoeira, Évora · 358 m
Bortle 3